These are three things that are a part of my daily life, and I would wager, many of our daily lives. Over the years, in learning to cope with the former, I have learned that the latter is the greatest friend and drug I could possibly have. I have seen this in friends and clients over the years as well.

My family has a history of mental health issues, both treated and untreated. I, for instance, have never formally been diagnosed with, or prescribed medication to treat, depression; but I am keenly aware that I am prone to depressive episodes and tend to experience about one prolonged episode every year. These episodes are almost always brought on by major life events or changes that become overwhelming, causing me to retreat into myself.

One of these episodes hit me was when I was laid off from my engineering job. I had been working since the day I graduated college in a very lucrative field. While I didn’t always love what I was doing for a living, I never had to worry about money or where I was headed in life. When I was laid off, everything suddenly changed. Even though I “knew” I was going to be fine, and that this was going to allow me to pursue something I actually enjoyed, I was unable to process anything beyond the fact that I was a failure. It took me months to accept the truths that, on the surface, I already knew: Why would it matter if I did something I enjoyed, I was already a failure. Why would anything else be any different?

Over the years, I tried many things to cope with these “events”— sleeping more “just to make this day end, cause tomorrow can’t be worse,” putting on the “happy” face because I thought if I just acted happy, eventually I would be happy. When that didn’t work, I tended to become more withdrawn in public because it wasn’t anyone else’s issue, and I didn’t want my negative nature to bring anyone else down. And of course, while doing all of these things, I also self-medicated with alcohol.

The consistent element in all of these coping methods (beyond the fact that they didn’t work) was that I wasn’t letting anyone know what was going on in my head. I think that, for a time, I was ashamed about how I felt. I wondered, “Why am I like this when no one else is? Everyone I know is so happy and has their shit together, and I’m just struggling to get through the rest of this shift so I can lay down and be away from everyone and everything.” I only sought solace in myself, which only served to worsen the cycle.

I would be lying if I said I never thought about taking my own life. Who would even miss me? I thought they would all be better off if I wasn’t around, anyway.

I have had friends who have taken this way out. I have had family members attempt to take this way out. I have never wanted to do it, but I don’t think that they wanted to either—I think they felt alone and saw no other way out.

So what does this all have to do with fitness? Well, one of the things I learned very early on when I started exercising regularly was how great it made me feel—and I don’t mean physically. I mean I noticed how happy I was, and how things that used to bother me or set me on a downward spiral didn’t bother me quite as much.

This whole “fitness thing” isn’t just about your body; it’s about your mind, too! Hell, maybe even more so! The connection between physical and mental health cannot be overstated.

I found that not only was I generally in better spirits, but when I was having a bad day or feeling the stresses and pressures of life, coming to the gym, kicking the iron around, and getting a good sweat on generally made me feel better. If nothing else, I got that hour of the day for me, and that hour would be good. My workouts have almost always spilled past that hour. Leaving the gym knowing that I had accomplished something, regardless of what that was, always put the rest of the day back on track. If nothing else went right, I knew that I had at least done one thing to better myself that day. I could put my head on the pillow at night knowing that that particular day wasn’t a total waste. That is a profound feeling when you are stuck in a cycle where it seems like nothing matters.

The other amazing thing that I found, especially as I began coaching and talking more and more with my athletes, was that I wasn’t alone. A lot of people were dealing with depression, or anxiety, or bipolar disorders, or any number of things. They too felt alone and ashamed to talk about it. That’s what led me to recognize the other great tool that fitness has given me to fight these demons . . . community and support.

We are not alone in these battles and journeys, and that is an amazing feeling. I am not in any way saying that I am now “cured” from these episodes. Absolutely not. But I do have the knowledge that continuing to care for my body will help me care for my mind, and I know that I am not alone, and that there are plenty of people or groups that I can reach out too.

I’ve included some stories below from a couple of friends who were gracious enough to send in a few words about their struggles as well. Again, you are not alone!

If you or anyone you know is having trouble coping or is contemplating suicide, please reach out to a friend, a family member, a coach, anyone. If you feel like you do not have anyone to reach out to, call the National Suicide Prevention Hotline at 1-800-273-8255, or reach out to another entity like To Write Love On Her Arms.

CrossFit provides countless benefits to your body, health and life. Some of the most important benefits you will see include improved heart health, improved mobility and reaching weight loss or body composition goals. Here are 7 benefits/effects of CrossFit training.

#1 CrossFit is Weight-Loss Efficient

Serious athletes have been reaping the benefits of high-intensity interval training (HIIT) for decades and thanks to the introduction of CrossFit, so too have its practitioners. With HIIT you workout hard for short periods of time as opposed to pacing yourself with a minimal workout over a longer time. HIIT helps burn more calories for hours after training, those who do this type of exercise stick to it longer, and it will boost your endurance.

#2 CrossFit Builds Muscle Fast

Within a couple weeks of going to CrossFit training regularly, you’ll begin to notice that you’re getting stronger and may be able to see more muscle definition. Whether you’re carrying your kids to and from the car, lifting a bag of dog food, or simply unscrewing a jar lid, you’ll definitely notice a difference.

#3 CrossFit Encourages Competition

It doesn’t matter if you’re competing against your peers, in a CrossFit event, or with yourself, you will strive with each challenge you face. Competition more often than not brings the best out of ourselves, regardless of the forum.

#4 CrossFit is Scalable

Each workout at a CrossFit gym is designed to be done by everyone, regardless of age, skill level, or strength. The benefit of this is that newcomers can work with weights, or movements, that match their needs and experienced weightlifters can work with weights that continue to challenge their abilities. These allows everyone to achieve the intended stimulus of the workout and reap the benefits of their hard work regardless of skill level.

#5 CrossFit Boosts Confidence

It’s an amazing transformation going from a sedentary lifestyle or even a typical gym workout and doing CrossFit. You’ll quickly build your confidence in many aspects of your life, including your weightlifting sessions, your place of work, and in everyday interactions with others. As you achieve victories in the gym, that confidence will carry over when you leave the gym.

#6 CrossFit Improves Functionality

CrossFit workouts are , by design, always different from day-to-day and they are not body-part specific. Instead, you get a whole-body workout that effects multiple body parts and muscles. The movements that are utilized are “functional” movements that we encounter in our everyday life, thereby CrossFit training will improve your movement and functionality in the real world as you improve in the gym. After all a squat is simply sitting down and standing up.

#7 CrossFit Aids Mobility

One of the nice aspects of CrossFit is that the majority of its workout routines are based around normal bodily movements and because of this you will be far more mobile. The mobility that comes with CrossFit workouts helps with physical rehab and combating aging bones and muscles.

Last month I reached out to our members and asked if a Murph first timer would be willing to share their thoughts and experience of this workout. Thank you Ally for sharing your experience, it's a perfect representation of what we all go through with our "fitfam"

Ally Rancourt -

“Murph” is one of those buzzwords in the CrossFit and general fitness worlds that you hear a lot; even before I started doing CrossFit, or working out really at all, I saw people around Memorial Day posting that they “did Murph”. It wasn’t until I started doing CrossFit and became more invested in the community that I realized what this workout actually meant for athletes and the heroes it commemorates, specifically Lieutenant Michael P. Murphy. It really changes a workout when you’re in that dark place where everything hurts and you think you just might pass out, but instead of focusing on just getting it done for yourself your thoughts are redirected to the sacrifice that men and women like Lieutenant Murphy have made and will make for this country. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to do Murph with my Steelfox team so instead I did it on my own, and it really struck me how much the community and my friends at the gym change my experience of CrossFit. The dark place was a little darker because I didn’t have my friends going through the same thing and cheering me on. Being alone forced me to reflect more on why I was really doing the workout (aside from the fact that I ate everything in sight the past weekend and I needed the workout), and it made me appreciate my CrossFit community that much more.

Summer is coming and here at Steel Fox CrossFit that also means that Hero WODs are coming. Beginning in May we will be doing a Hero WOD every Friday, and of course Memorial Day Murph. While many of you are familiar with Hero WODs, I just wanted to take a few minutes to talk about what they are and why we do them.

What is a Hero WOD?

Much like the “girl WODs” that we are all familiar with, Hero WODs are WODs that are named after specific people. The major difference is that the HERO WODs are named after service members that have lost their lives in service to their country or community. Many of these are named after military personnel but there are some that are named for police officers and firefighters.

Why do we do Hero WODs?

While Hero WODs can be used as a repeatable benchmark like the “girls”, that is not the main reason we do them. The main reason we do them is to perform a difficult workout with a certain person in mind, and to use it to honor them and remember the great things about our life. When you are slogging away through yet another 400m run during Hotshots 19 it provides you with a chance to think about what those firefighters must have been going through running into those wildfires and how what you are doing is not so bad in comparison. It also gives us a chance to think about all the amazing things we have in life.

What is the best way to approach a Hero WOD?

These WODs tend to be heavy, long, difficult, high skill (or all of the above) workouts. So what is the best way to approach a given workout, especially if it has a movement or a weight you can not do? As with any CrossFit workout, scaling is always an option, so scale the weight to weight that is doable for you, scale the chest to bar pullups to pull-ups. But that being said, this is also a chance to push yourself and challenge yourself more than you are used to. These workouts are meant to mentally and physically challenging.

As we kick off into our “Season of Heroes” I look forward to seeing everyone in here sweating and pushing hard in honor of these fallen heroes.

Well we have just finished another CrossFit Games Open. What are we supposed to do going forward? The Open, while often a great experience filled with PRs and firsts, can also be a greatly humbling experience for many. A spotlight is shown on your weaknesses and areas that you have ignored in your training for the past year. If you couldn’t do double unders in 2017, why were you still unable to do them in 2018? Did you set a goal to acquire them and then work tirelessly to achieve that goal? Or did you give up on learning them when the process proved to be frustrating?

This is a great time of year to set some fitness goals for yourself moving into the next phase of training. But even more importantly than simply stating a goal, is having a plan to achieve that goal and sticking with it. Skills, and strength, take time to develop and even longer to master, they are only earned through hard work and dedication, not wishful thinking and picking up a jump rope for 5 minutes every 2 weeks.

So what are your goals? Double unders? A strict pull-up? A better engine? To be stronger? If you are like many of us, your answer is quite possibly “all of the above”. The mistake many people make in goal setting at this point in time is trying to get better at everything all at once. This leads to lack of focus and frustration when you seem to not be getting anywhere. My suggestion to you is to make a list of every goal you have, BUT to then prioritize that list by what is most important to you to achieve. Focus on the 1 or 2 things at the top of the list until they are accomplished, learned, or improved to a point that it is no longer your one glaring weakness and biggest goal. Then move on to the next one. Even spending 5 minutes every day on your double unders or 10 working on shoulder strength and pull-up exercises every day you come to the box will add up over time, and lead to you making those weaknesses into strengths.

If you have any questions on the best way to approach your goals please do not hesitate to talk to me about it!

There are two basic approaches to training frequency within CrossFit; 3 days on 1 day off or 5 days on 2 days off. The purpose of rest days is allow you body to adapt to the stress placed on it through training. Taking rest days give our nervous, muscular, and endocrine system time to repair and rebuild stronger than before. A well programmed rest day also allows an athlete to maintain intensity in a WOD. Intensity is the independent variable most commonly associated with maximizing favorable adaptation to exercise. If you’ve been in the gym for the past 10 days soreness and fatigue are most likely going to diminish that intensity. Taking rest days also give us an opportunity to apply our fitness. Get outside, learn and play new sports, develop skills beyond CrossFit. Finally, it’s important to realize that we have lives outside the gym. When it comes down to how much to train the best recommendation is to train as much as what works for you. Whether that’s a strict schedule or based on feel and energy level, whatever is sustainable and keeps you excited to train day to day!

From the Crossfit Coach’s Staff here are some tips we want you to consider on this year’s Crossfit Open Starting Feb 23rd!

Preparing for the Open

Have a goal going into it

At the beginning of the Open develop personal goals that you’d like to have happen. If it’s not your first try and improve from previous years. There’s likely to be a repeat like always so know your last score and try and top it. If this is your first open, attempt to complete all the WODs Rx. If you don’t have muscle ups, the opens a great time for your first!

Regular WOD and Opens have different strategies

Competing and training are two different animals. Scaling appropriately and not stressing about WODs are the everyday. Realizing that your approach to each week should be geared a little different. Taking no days off all week will affect your performance friday night.

Pacing

Understanding pacing is the easiest and quickest way to improve scores on a workout. Coming out full throttle may feel fantastic for the first 90 seconds but there will be a crash and burn. Breaking when you want to, not when you have to, finishing faster than when you started, etc.

Drill weaknesses

The movements in the opens are relatively set. There are new movements that pop up every year like bar muscle ups, OH walking lunges and dumbbells. However, burpees, thrusters, pull ups, cleans, snatch are staples of the open and focused on. If you have a glaring weakness in any of these common areas, drilling them in the weeks leading up will be critical.

Longer warm ups

In a normal class there might be several strength pieces and a shorter general warm up. In the open, focusing on a single quick WOD gives you more time to warm up and prep. A general warm up followed by specific movement preps will optimize performance. This also gives you more time to practice weaker movements.

A solid coach must be able to articulate the mechanics of every movement. Emphasizing the major points in performance for beginners and drilling the subtler ones for advanced athletes. This comes down to knowledge of biomechanics and movement efficacy. But, knowledge is not enough. A coach must be able to communicate their knowledge to an athlete in a universally understandable form.

The ability to see what constitutes proper movement mechanics as well as movement faults. These could be drastic and obvious, such as a rounded lumbar curve to more subtle faults like head position and grip placement. Seeing correctable faults can occur in both static and dynamic positions. Static positions include stance, grip, set up, and so on. Although the athlete is still, static faults generally lead to dynamic faults or movement faults. Early arm pulls, “stiper” deadlifts, pressing around the head, etc. all fall into the category of dynamic faults.

How a coach communicate better mechanics is very important. Using visual, verbal, and tactile cues work differently for different athletes. Shouting, “knees!” may work for an athlete that knows to drive the knees out over the toes, while another has no idea what that means. Perhaps placing their hand on the outside of their knee and telling the athlete to push against their hand will be more effective. Coaches must start at the most important faults as well. Perhaps in a squat and athletes chest is falling, knees caving and heels rising. Cueing all three will be overwhelming. Focusing on driving the knees out again may reset the pelvis, causing the chest to rise and back to straighten leading to balance and heel staying grounded.

Having all the knowledge and ability in the world means nothing if a class is chaotic at all times. Coaches must be able to manage on the micro and macro level. Organization of total time, equipment, flow of athletes takes prior planning and practice. If a WOD is “Filthy 50” or “Fight Gone Bad” there are a lot of moving parts (weights, people, equipment). Managing large groups to optimize WODs for each individual in crucial. Coordinating this as well as teaching, seeing, and correcting will improve each class.

Having a presence and attitude that is positive and engaging may sound cliche but it makes a huge difference. Building rapport with athletes improve your ability to effectively coach. If you know an athlete has a habit of dropping elbows in the thruster, simply cueing “elbows!” will be effective. Building on foundations will continually push athletes towards fitness

Finally, a CrossFit Coach should be able to demonstrate movements for their athletes. Does this mean every coach should be a games competitor? Or is every games competitor a phenomenal coach? No, but providing visual aids not only helps athletes, it demonstrates the coaching credibility. This requires awareness of one's own movement mechanics. A coach should lead by example. Demonstrating each movement to the best of their ability. Leading by example in weightlifting, gymnastics, conditioning and even nutrition.

What is Project Progression? Steel Fox Crossfit has created a progressional map that outlines beginner to advance (RX) levels of fitness for each exercise in Crossfit. In this map you will find starting points and end goal points for your fitness. We wanted to develop a system that created a vision for you, a mission to instill goal achievement and accountability. The base of this program is strengthening your body, getting better at Oly lifting and gymnastic skill as well as better endurance. With Project Progression we will be testing your fitness levels from Jan 2nd to Jan 12th on all the movements detailed on this map which will help you determine your starting level and paint clear goals for your fitness. The 3 months to follow (Jan, March, April) that we will have specific training in Strength, Skill and Workouts that will be in a progressional format, this will take place Mon-Friday. In April from the 9th to the 20th we will be retesting you from everything we did in January and this is where you will see improvements.

We are not guaranteeing that you will get results in every area as it always depends on the individual, their attendance, frequency in class, extra work outside of class and time/focus spent on their given weakness or goal. Steel Fox Crossfit is doing this to help you have a “fit goal” and some kind of map/plan of how to get to that goal. We hope this will help lots of people understand what level their fitness is currently and where they may want to be. We at Steel Fox believe you should always strive to be the best you can be and more!

Here are the particulars to get the best success:

Enrollment in SugarWOD is a must to track scores (Coach’s will be doing checks on this)

Check-ins with your coach for help are always encouraged

5 days of Fitness is a must, do your best to make the 5 hours a week and or use open gym to makeup missed sessions. If you are a 3x a week member you can always change your membership anytime and upgrade to unlimited so you can maximize your results.

Get to class earlier or stay later: Utilize ROM wod, Cross Symetry and Foam rolling to work on your mobility as being immobile may divert you from achieving your fitness goals.

Enroll in the nutrition challenge in January to help fuel your fitness, weather you want to lose fat, gain performance or gain more muscle we can help you with that.

Enroll in the Crossfit Open or a local competition for another push we will be here supporting you!

Always be positive and believe in the process. Have passion for your workouts and put in the work needed you will be rewarded!

Looking for a healthier version of a dessert you can take to your holiday party? I got you covered. Now let’s get one thing straight. A dessert is a just that, a dessert. Although there are healthier versions of things out there, it is still something we should have in moderation. If your going to indulge, use the best quality ingredients and make it beneficial to you. Substituting certain processed ingredients for more natural ingredients is a way to achieve this. Your body knows how to break down the natural foods, it does not know how to process things that were not meant to be put into your body. Here are a few options. Enjoy!

The past 2 years I’ve done the Open, week 4 would always fall on my spring break for school. Now I may have been able to use this as an excuse but, luckily for me there is practically a CrossFit Box in every corner of the world. Last year I dropped into a box in San Diego and completed 17.4. It was great to be able to immediately join another community and have the full support of everyone there. Being part of the world-wide CrossFit community is awesome

Find weaknesses

The Open always has a movements and workouts that will expose one or more of weaknesses in your fitness. In workouts that start climbing in weight, I definitely find myself sliding down the leaderboard a little bit. After the Open I see that as a weakness and can focus my accessory work and training around weightlifting rather than staying comfortable in my strengths.

Track Progress

I still remember Open WOD 15.4. It was an ascending rep scheme of cleans and handstand push ups. I’ve been doing CrossFit for a few years and felt decently confident in my fitness. Not so much after. I think I got around 7 handstand push ups in 8 minutes. Skip to 3 years later I repeated the workout on my own and I absolutely blew my original score out of the water. It’s sometimes hard to see progress happen in the short term. The Open allows you to track progress over long periods of time and really see improvement!

Intensity

Intensity is what we strive for in every workout we do. Anyone who has done the Open knows that the intensity level get jacked up during these WODs. Reminding yourself how hard you actually can push in a workout that may matter just a little bit more is great. The WODs may be unassuming on the whiteboard, but when you get a competition mindset and you are feeling it the next day.

Fun!

Throwing down Friday nights with the entire gym is fun! You can talk strategy, weaknesses, strengths, watch other athletes, and follow allow with Games Athletes. You can take the Open as serious as you want but at the end of the day it’s always fun!

Can you believe it is that time of year again?? Thanksgiving is fast approaching, and before we know it, we will be sitting around the gold old pine tree. The holidays are a wonderful time of year filled precious time with our friends and families. In our culture, the Holidays are also about the FOOD. It wouldn’t be Thanksgiving without the Turkey, stuffing, potatoes and desserts. And just like Thanksgiving, and New Years is always one of those Holidays that you gather around the table and stuff your face until you're in a food coma and then go back for seconds.

Sometimes, more often than not, we can take the holidays and food overboard. Reaching for that second helping, or third cookie, not realizing that we have just consumed our entire day's worth of calories in one meal. Now, that's not to say we can’t enjoy ourselves and have that extra serving or cookie, but there is a way to do that without overindulging. If you're dieting during the Holidays, this can be a very stressful time. There are temptations everywhere. You have to use that self control to not have those extra servings and helpings so you don’t hinder your progress. But it doesn’t have to be stressful. I have put together some helpful tips to help you stay on track this Holiday season. I hope they help. Enjoy the holidays with all your family and friends!

Be realistic. It is easy to tell yourself that you're not going to have any dessert or a carb all holiday season. But the truth is, the more deny yourself, the more likely you are to binge. Instead, tell yourself you are going to fill up on protein and veggies first, then allow for one portion of indulgence such as a piece of cake or pie. Enjoy every bite.

Don’t deviate from your normal routine. If you know you're going to spend the night at your work holiday party or a friends house for a yankee swap, begin your day as you would any other. Don’t skip meals to “save calories” for treats and drinks. Have a protein packed and good fat snack like a protein shake with a scoop of peanut butter an hour before your event. Protein and fat help cut cravings for sugar and processed carbs.

Exercise in the morning. Some of you may cringe at that thought. (me included) Moving your body first thing in the morning sets your day right and helps your body stay stress free during the busy holiday season. Getting your workout done and out of the way ensures nothing comes between you and your fitness goals.

Bring healthy treats to the party. Once someone invites you to their party, offer to bring something. This may not be an option for every occasion, it's always worth offering. This way you know the menu will include at least one healthy option.

Don’t beat yourself up. This is the most important if you ask my opinion. If you happen to overindulge, leave the guilt behind. Guilt associated with food is toxic and can create much more harm than good. Tell those little voices in your head to go away. Tell yourself that it is okay, and move on by getting back to eating and doing the things that make you feel good.

I love lunch. It is a time of day that we get to recharge our bodies to help us get through that afternoon hump. There are days we don’t have a lot of time to get lunch in. We are busy with meetings and appointments and have to rush to eat our food. Making sure to get a healthful lunch in a rush can be a challenge.

Save time with these recipes for quick healthy lunches that can be eaten on the go!

What the points of performance of the squat are and why they’re important

Shoulder width stance, toes straight or toes slightly out

We want a shoulder width stance because it provides us the ability to descend to full depth without compromising power. Too wide or too narrow may be limited by mobility in most athletes. A shoulder width stance is an ideal transfer from jump stance (feet under the hips) in the olympic lifts as well. Practicing wide stance and narrow stance squats have merit but, it’s important to develop the fundamental stance in the squat.

Having our toes straight or slightly out give us the ability to create torque through our hips and knees. This makes it easier for our knees to track over our toes and prevents loss of tension in the bottom of the squat. When our feet are flared out, our arches and knees are likely to collapse inward, especially under load.

Send butt back and then down

Initiating a squat with our hips loads the larger movers in our legs. Initiating with knees forward puts a large amount of the force through our quads, rather than dispersing the load equally through our hips, hamstrings, and quads together. This also keeps the load directly over our midfoot and center of mass.

Knees track over toes

Knees tracking straight over our feet not only relates to loading the hips properly. When the knees collapse inward, known as a valgus knee, the ligaments of the knee are compromised. Risk for injury of the ACL, PCL, MCL, or meniscus are increased. Focusing on “spreading the floor” with the feet will set our hips and knees to not only increase strength and power but prevent injury and damage. Knees tracking over our toes applies to the decent and ascending portions of the squat.

Chest up, weight off the balls of feet

A vertical chest in the squat is all about transferability. The chest may drop slightly in a low bar back squat but, in a front squat and overhead squat an upright torso stacks the load over your midline and allows for shoulder position to be optimum. An upright torso also demonstrates a maintained spinal position.

Keeping the weight spread throughout the whole foot improves our balance and our ability to create power. Heels coming off the ground limits recruitment of our hips and posterior chain while leaning too far back on the heels compromises our ability to balance and use our anterior chain.

Actively descend past parallel

Breaking the plane of parallel is crucial to developing strength in an upright squat. It recruits more of the hips and challenges the midline stability. Staying above parallel again loads primarily the quadriceps and patellar tendon. Also, for transferability to olympic lifts getting strong in an “ass to grass” squat will allow for stronger lifts and ability to drive out of the hole. Actively pulling into the bottom of a squat, rather than “dive bombing” keeps tension as well.

Maintain neutral lumbar curve

Maybe the most important point of performance of any squat is maintaining a neutral spine. Positioning our spine correctly will decrease the risk of injury significantly. When our lumbar vertebrae round, the load is dispersed primarily through our spine rather than our hips and legs. Also, the ability to increase load will diminish substantially when our midline isn’t stable. However, over extending through the hips and back will compromise the lumbar spine similarly. This happens when an athlete thinks “hips back” first without maintaining their midline. Learning to create a rock solid midline is critical in any squat weighted or not.

If you read my last blog, then you know i love convenient recipes. Things that are fast, easy and don’t take a lot of time. Fall is here, and when I think fall and colder weather, I also think CROCKPOT! Is there anything better than being able to throw ingredients in a pot, turn it on, let it cook itself?! Winning!

Heat the oil in a large frying pan over high heat. Add the beef chunks and brown on all sides, about 3-4 minutes. Add beef to a slow cooker. Top beef with the parsnips, carrots, onion, bay leaves, peppercorns, salt, thyme, and beef stock.

Cook on high for 6 hours (8-9 on low), or until beef is very tender.

Turkey Chili Serves 8

Nutrition facts:

Calories per cup = 262 (with cheese 360 calories)

Fat = 4g with cheese 15g fat

Protein = 34g

Carb = 25g

Ingredients:

2 lbs 99% fat-free ground turkey

1 yellow onion, chopped

5 cloves garlic, minced

1 Tbsp olive oil

1 (28 oz) can crushed tomatoes, no-salt added

1 (15 oz) can petite diced tomatoes, no-salt added

3 Tbsp tomato paste

½ tsp. hot sauce (I used Texas Pete)

1 (15 oz) can kidney beans, no-salt added, drained and rinsed

1 red bell pepper, chopped

1 green bell pepper, chopped

2 jalapenos, chopped

1½ tsp. sea salt

Pinch of pepper

1 packet Stevia (optional)

3 Tbsp chili powder

2 tsp. oregano

⅛ tsp. cayenne pepper

For extra fat keto* add ¼ cup shredded cheese to one serving

Instructions:

Drizzle olive oil in a large pot and saute onion and garlic until fragrant, about 3 minutes. Add ground turkey and cook until crumbled and brown, draining excess liquid as necessary.

Add all the rest of the ingredients and cook on medium/low heat for about an hour. Enjoy!

When developing goals it’s important to narrow your focus. Having broad areas to improve upon in great but, specifying a goal will allow you to develop a better plan to reach it. For example, if you just want to improve your overall fitness, narrow your goal to complete this year's open Rx’d.

Measurable

This is easily understood by most people. Have a goal that can be measurable not only at the end, but also incrementally. This way tracking progress is accurate and allows you to adjust your actions. Rather than simply getting stronger, aim to deadlift 400 lbs. If your max deadlift is 375 now, you can track your progress at 380, 385, and so on.

Attainable

Attainable goal setting comes down to more common sense. Setting ambitious goals is fantastic and is what is inspiring and enjoyable about improving yourself. However, setting goals that are unrealistic are going to hinder your progress. For example, I would love to run an ultramarathon race but, I’ve never swam over half a mile, ran a 10k at most and honestly have never rode a bike for endurance purposes. A more attainable goal should be to complete a shorter triathlon. Then after I accomplish that goal I can reassess and create new goals for myself.

Relevant

Is this goal worthwhile? Is this the right time? A relevant goal should be both. If I train for long term fitness and to push off the nursing home, it might not be relevant to me to aim to snatch 300 lbs. Sure, it would fantastic to build that explosive strength and overhead stability. However, training olympic lifts and max strength more frequently and intensely increases the risk of injury and demands far more in terms of training time, recovery protocols and time investments.

Time Bound

Having a time frame to complete your goal is crucial. Having open ended goals discourage completion and progress. If you want to run a marathon, pick a race date and start training now. Developing a time frame will also give you a definite answer on your accomplishment. For example, If you wanted to do 1 muscle in 8 weeks, you can work backwards and develop a plan to attack your goal week to week and day to day.

Chop bacon into little pieces and cook on stove top. While bacon is cooking, beat your eggs, add your chopped veggies into your egg mixture and stir well. Once bacon is cooked, add the bacon to the egg and veggie mixture. Use the fat from the bacon pan to lightly coat the muffin tin. Fill each muffin tin ¾ of the way with the egg mixture. Cook for 12-14 minutes or until muffins rise and there is no liquid on the top of the egg. Let sit for a few minutes then remove muffins from tin. Enjoy

Calories 100

Fat = 21 g per muffin w/ avocado (6 g without avocado)

Carbs = 2 g

Protein = 8 g

For Macros Plan

Peanut butter and Jelly overnight oats

Male: do recipe as stated for Female cut oats to half the ingredients

Ingredients:

1/2 cup old-fashioned rolled oats

1 tbs peanut butter

1 Tbsp. chia seeds

1 Tbsp. Sugar Free Carys Syrup or Walden Farms

1 cups vanilla almond, soy or coconut milk*

Pinch coarse salt

½ cup fresh strawberries

Directions: in a medium mixing bowl, whisk together oats, peanut butter, chia seeds, syrup, milk and salt. Transfer to a jar with a lid and refrigerate overnight. Stir in more peanut butter and more maple syrup if desired, to taste, and top with fresh strawberries and slivered almonds.

My favorite saying when it comes to any plan is, “Failing to plan is planning to fail” It is so important when we are “dieting” (I don’t like that word to much but that is for another blog post) to make sure that we are preparing our meals and such ahead of time. The number one thing I hear from clients on why they went off track is always that they were unprepared.

If you're anything like me, you like things to be easy and convenient. In our fast paced world, we sometimes don’t make time for the most important things in life. One of those things being breakfast. I know you can remember your mom or dad telling you before school that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. They were right. Upon waking, you should drink 6-8 ounces of water to jumpstart your body and organs. Within an hour of waking, you should be eating. Your body has just rested for 6-8 hours and needs fuel to function for the day. Protein is most important here so make that breakfast one that is filled with good protein and balance out the carb and fat.

If you're doing keto, of course fat is going to be the primary here.

So, what can we do to make sure our breakfast is on point and prepared ahead of time. Well, I have a few simple and easy recipe for you to make so that you can just pop it in the microwave or eat on the go so you can get on with your day!